Tag: Hostel hacks

Posted in Recipes

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal

Posted on by Serena

This oatmeal has a terrible name, but it has a GREAT TASTE. If you’re someone who doesn’t like the taste of oats, this is the one for you. The oatmeal is mixed with cocoa powder so it becomes really chocolaty like a pudding. You’ll barely realise it’s oatmeal. This recipe is inspired by my favourite childhood birthday cake, chocolate banana cake and one of my favourite candy, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. To me, chocolate, banana and peanut butter are meant to be together. The combo just tastes so good! All the ingredients here are non perishable, perfect for hostel cooking. Cocoa powder does make the oatmeal a bit bitter so I added date syrup on top, but feel free to just stir in some plain old sugar. The cacao nibs are totally optional, my mom bought some so I wanted to try them hehe…

Time: 2-3 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 Tablespoons Instant oats (I used Quaker brand)
  • 2 Tablespoons Plant milk powder of choice
  • 1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder (can be found in the baking section)
  • Hot water
  • 1/2 a banana, sliced
  • 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
  • 1 teaspoon Date Syrup (or sweetener of choice)
  • Optional: 1 teaspoon Cacao nibs

Instructions:

  1. Add oats, cocoa powder and the plant milk powder to a bowl.
  2. Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
  3. Stir until the plant milk powder dissolves.
  4. Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
  5. Top with sliced banana, peanut butter and date syrup.
  6. Enjoy!

(If you prefer, the sweetener and peanut butter can be added in step 1 so it will be mixed into the the oatmeal. Either way is delicious though :P)

Posted in Recipes

Simple Oatmeal

Posted on by Serena

Ahhhhh oatmeal, my favourite breakfast food. I used to hate it, but ever since I started living in a hostel, I had it so often, I fell in love with it. Why? Because with hostel cooking, for a food to make it to my favourite list, apart from being delicoius it must not need the 3 M’s, Mess, Money, and Minutes (aka time).

No mess because we will be using instant oats so no need for cooking and/or cleaning, apart from the bowl and spoon. No money (actually its not reaallly no money) because there are only 2 main ingredients, oats and plant milk powder. The oats cost about RM8 for a month’s worth, the plant milk powder costs about RM25 for a little longer than a month. That’s just around RM1 per serving! Even with toppings the cost isn’t too high. Lastly, no minutes because literally, you just scoop, pour, mix!

I could rave about oatmeal all day. The ingredients are cheap, non perishable and easy to store. The meal is filling and pretty nutritious. You can change the flavour easily by changing the toppings. You don’t need a kitchen to make this. I honestly don’t have anything negative to say!

Hostel food is more than just instant noodles guys!

Simple oatmeal

Time: 2-3 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 tablespoons Instant oats (I used Quaker brand)
  • 2 tablespoons Plant milk powder of choice (I got mine at Jaya Grocer)
  • Hot water
  • Optional: Toppings of choice

Instructions:

  1. Add oats and the plant milk powder to a bowl.
  2. Add hot water to cover the oats. If you like your oatmeal more watery, add more hot water.
  3. Stir until the plant milk powder dissolves.
  4. Let the oats soften for 1 minute.
  5. Add optional toppings and enjoy!

Personally I like non perishable toppings like dried friut or seeds just for the sake of convenience. My favourite though has to be cinnamon. Sometimes I’ll also stir in cocoa powder or peanut butter to change the flavour. If I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll add some ripe banana slices on top. Here are some topping ideas:

  • Dried fruit (eg. raisins, dried cranberries, goji berries aka “geiji”. These can be found at supermarkets or convenience stores)
  • Sprinkle of sugar (white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar etc)
  • Seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds. These can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, baking shops, or pharmacies/health shops)
  • Nuts or nut butter (peanuts, almonds, cashews etc. These can be found at supermarkets, convenience stores, baking shops, or pharmacies/health shops)
  • Fresh fruit (eg. banana (least messy), mango, strawberries, dragon fruit, apple)
  • Coconut flakes, cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, marmite (for a savory twist)

Don’t be afraid to experiment to find your favourite flavour! But hey, plain is good too 🙂